Why this Claymont resident cofounded a finance blog by and for Gen Z

Generation Z — broadly, people born between 1995 and 2015, or the current generation of youth and early 20-somethings — may be starting off their adulthoods with a potential economic depression, and for many, overly complicated, old-school financial advice just won’t cut it.

Twenty-year-old Jack McCann of Claymont, along with his 21-year-old San Diego-based partner Charles Franchina, decided that Gen Z needed a place where they could easily learn all about general finance, from saving to trading stocks, from other members of Gen Z.

“I have had a passion for finance topics since I got my first job,” said McCann. “I was able to see the power of market returns and how my money was making even more money, and ever since then, I have been hooked. I’m extremely passionate about helping other people, which is why I started this blog.”

The blog, General Finance for Gen Z, aims to fill a void in finance resources, Franchina said.

“My passion for financial intelligence was ignited when I read ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad‘ by Robert Kiyosaki. Ever since then I could not stop learning about how money works,” he said. “However, when I was researching things for myself, I realized that there is a steep learning curve on many other books and websites. Jack and I wanted to create a platform that would be both effective and easy to follow in order to help the most people.”

We asked these young bloggers five questions about the site; their responses have been lightly edited for clarity.

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Technical.ly: How did General Finance for Gen Z get started?

Jack McCann and Charles Franchina: General Finance for Gen Z was started based on the idea to educate people of all ages, but especially the young people of our generation, on all topics relating to finance and money. Throughout formal education, we noticed that important topics such as budgeting, investing, and taxes were never discussed by any of our teachers. Our goal is to provide information on finance topics in a way that is easy to comprehend and provides value to our readers.

As a member of Gen Z, where did you get your knowledge in finance?

We are both self-taught! Neither of us have studied in a finance program at the university level but we think that is actually our biggest asset. We provide viewpoints that the typical finance or business major would not even think about. We love to read and we are constantly self-educating ourselves with books, finance magazines, newspapers and podcasts to provide great content for our audience.

What are Gen Z’s biggest financial concerns?

Gen Z’s biggest financial concerns are student loan debt, financial literacy, and how to achieve financial independence. Everyone wants to be wealthy, but without the knowledge to get there, our generation cannot reach our potential. We post about topics ranging from personal finance to investing and everything in between.

What kind of investments can a young person with minimal income make?

This is such a great question because it is something we talk about often. You do not need to be making tons of money to start your journey to financial independence. Save a little bit every month and start investing. Our favorite investment for everyone, especially young people, is any S&P 500-tracking index funds. These funds provide a consistent return, historically 10% per year, and limit risk for everyone invested. If the initial share price is too high for your initial investment, there are a multitude of applications that will allow you to buy fractional shares with whatever money you have to invest!

What’s the best piece of financial advice you’ve received?

The best piece of financial advice that we have ever received is a two-parter: The first part is to pay yourself first. Paying yourself first allows you to make consistent contributions to your investment account that will help you reach financial independence, and it also forces you to cut out unnecessary bills at the end of the month if you do not have the money. In contrast, paying your bills first will cut into your investments and slow your journey to financial independence.

The second part is to start early and deposit often. Starting early is extremely important because compound interest is exponential! Therefore, the longer your investments are collecting interest, the higher the interest payments will be. The greatest advantage our generation has is time, and investing early can provide wealth with minimal risk.